England's 2020 and beyond

[barah_admi]

The times, they are a'changing. Or something of that nature.

England are on a precarious part of their test history, possibly the biggest change in playing staff since the early 00s. James Anderson will surely not make it out (as a regular) of the next season, his partner in crime Stuart Broad is probably due to walk into the sunset and unless the likes of Bairstow, Woakes and Moeen Ali show growth, they may well disappear. That, however, would not be a bad thing.

With Alastair Cook retired almost two years ago and a changing of the guard occurring in the bowling ranks this will be a decade of great change and the biggest wholesale move in a generation. Dom Bess may well take over as England's number one spinner, Curran and Archer will likely form the fats bowling backbone with a number of other young men lining up for their shot.

It seems that by the start of the 2021-22 season, Joe Root and Ben Stokes will be the old men of English cricket.

Hurrah to that!

What do you think about the young crop coming through? And Root's comments on the failings of the County system?

 

[HappyWarsFan]

England are a mediocre and overrated team. There so called new talent is nothing special m India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even Pakistan (if the new crop of pacers is managed well) will easily surpass England in the next 5 years.

 

[Mamoon]

Broad has plenty left in the tank. At least 2 years.

Anderson will retire and Bairstow will most likely be dropped from the Test side but the rest of the team should remain unchanged.

I don’t agree that they are overrated. They are the third best side at the moment after India and Australia.

They know how to play against the big teams but need to be more ruthless against poor sides like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Pakistan in particular has been their bogey team in the 2010s, but things should change in this decade.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Broad has plenty left in the tank. At least 2 years.

Anderson will retire and Bairstow will most likely be dropped from the Test side but the rest of the team should remain unchanged.

I don’t agree that they are overrated. They are the third best side at the moment after India and Australia.

They know how to play against the big teams but need to be more ruthless against poor sides like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Pakistan in particular has been their bogey team in the 2010s, but things should change in this decade.

England are awfully inconsistent. Winning a test in SA, to being thumped in New Zealand and losing to West Indies. They also barely drew the ashes at home, a series they should be winning.

This same West Indies was beaten by a mediocre Pakistan side in 2017, yet England were demolished

Also for their limited overs teams, unlike Australia, NZ, India, they cannot play on difficult pitches and are full of flat tracks bullies.

 

[Mamoon]

England are awfully inconsistent. Winning a test in SA, to being thumped in New Zealand and losing to West Indies. They also barely drew the ashes at home, a series they should be winning.

This same West Indies was beaten by a mediocre Pakistan side in 2017, yet England were demolished

England know how to win/survive the big series. They beat Australia, South Africa and India in successive home series and also beat South Africa away.

They were outplayed in the Ashes last year but still found a way to draw the series. Currently they are 1-1 in South Africa who trounced Pakistan 3-0 last year.

They are clearly a very good side but need to be more ruthless against weaker opponents. They lost too many matches against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies in the previous decade.

 

[barah_admi]

England are a mediocre and overrated team. There so called new talent is nothing special m India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even Pakistan (if the new crop of pacers is managed well) will easily surpass England in the next 5 years.

Overrated in which way? England have the 4th best w/l ratio of the last decade (I think behind India, SA and Aus) and more importantly than mere stats, produced the best fast bowler of his generation, possibly the 2nd/3rd best also, along with one of the best scoring batsmen, one of the best openers, a very competent spinner AND won a series in India, whereas India could not return the favour. They have also won in Aus and SA. If they had managed a series win in the UAE, it probably would have been England's best ever decade in terms of pure quality of wins.

 

[barah_admi]

I will add that the current crop is untested and from what I have seen of some of them in the county game, not exactly the great talents that Root, JImmy, Broad, Cook and co were. But times have changed and they require a few series to develop.

 

[Mamoon]

In terms of peak achievements, England had a better decade than India and one of the greatest decades in history. In fact, they nearly achieved everything that a modern team can achieve in a decade.

- won the World Cup
- number 1 ranking in Tests
- won Test series in Australia, India and South Africa
- beat India, the best side in the world, in emphatic fashion in 2018
- won the WT20 and made the final on another occasion
- made it to the Champions Trophy 2013 Final

Some of the minor achievements include whitewashing Australia in ODI series and occupying number 1 spot in both ODIs and T20s.

That is a phenomenal decade. However, they also had plenty of lows:

- the 2015 World Cup disaster
- successive humiliations in Australia after the 2010-11 triumph
- failing to win a series against deeply mediocre Pakistan sides
- losing to Sri Lanka at home in 2014
- drawing 1-1 in Bangladesh
- losing a Test to West Indies at home in 2017
- losing the Champions Trophy 2017 semi-final to Pakistan - a tournament they should and would have won 9/10 times

Overall, it was a middling decade in terms of consistency but a remarkable decade in terms of peak performances.

 

[Hasan123]

Broad has plenty left in the tank. At least 2 years.

Anderson will retire and Bairstow will most likely be dropped from the Test side but the rest of the team should remain unchanged.

I don’t agree that they are overrated. They are the third best side at the moment after India and Australia.

They know how to play against the big teams but need to be more ruthless against poor sides like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Pakistan in particular has been their bogey team in the 2010s, but things should change in this decade.

I watched a programme about the England players talking about the World Cup win. Morgan said that Pakistan is our bogey side. So even the England players think like you.

Also Morgan said that beating India and Australia in bilaterals series before the WC gave them a lot and confidence that they could win the WC. Whilst our friends on PP downplay bilateral series and rankings it clearly is in players minds .

 

[Hasan123]

They have players coming through. Sam Curran and Olie Pope are very good talents. Archer is 24. Ben Fokes is a very good keeper. Sibley and Crawley have something that can be worked with.

Will never understand how our fans can talk about others teams being finished when we play rubbish like Iftikhar and stick with past it seniors like Azhar Ali.

 

[Robert]

England are a mediocre and overrated team. There so called new talent is nothing special m India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even Pakistan (if the new crop of pacers is managed well) will easily surpass England in the next 5 years.

England are currently ranked #3 in the world by the ICC, based on the number of matches they win.

They have a decent opening partnership emerging, the best since Strauss finished, a strengthening middle order, a wicket-taking SLA, a decent pace attack led by Broad and a left arm swinger.

Their new manager understands test cricket too.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

England are currently ranked #3 in the world by the ICC, based on the number of matches they win.

They have a decent opening partnership emerging, the best since Strauss finished, a strengthening middle order, a wicket-taking SLA, a decent pace attack led by Broad and a left arm swinger.

Their new manager understands test cricket too.

England are ranked #5 in tests by ICC.

 

[Titan24]

The big plus in recent times in tests has been the emergence of Archer, Sibley and Pope. They were lacking good young batsmen putting their hands up but now they have found two solid ones who deserve a long run.

They have also found a highly skillful pace bowler who can generate really good pace as well.

With Bess and Leech they have two spinners who can provide the much needed control along with sometimes small but cruicial performances with the bat as well.

Looks like they have found some of the missing pieces of the puzzle. Though will need to manage Archer well.

 

[barah_admi]

England are currently ranked #3 in the world by the ICC, based on the number of matches they win.

They have a decent opening partnership emerging, the best since Strauss finished, a strengthening middle order, a wicket-taking SLA, a decent pace attack led by Broad and a left arm swinger.

Their new manager understands test cricket too.

That is not saying much.

But I agree with the overall sentiment, that the English test side could be on a path upwards. I disagree about the coach and he has a long, long way to go.

 

[barah_admi]

The big plus in recent times in tests has been the emergence of Archer, Sibley and Pope. They were lacking good young batsmen putting their hands up but now they have found two solid ones who deserve a long run.

They have also found a highly skillful pace bowler who can generate really good pace as well.

With Bess and Leech they have two spinners who can provide the much needed control along with sometimes small but cruicial performances with the bat as well.

Looks like they have found some of the missing pieces of the puzzle. Though will need to manage Archer well.

I think that Archer could be the most important addition to the side. This is the first time since a young Steven Finn that England have had a quality test pace man. Archer's potential is limitless, he has pace, bounce and can swing the old ball, the issue will be to maintain his fitness and his ability to bowl fast (which dips far too quickly for English bowlers...or bowlers in England).

If England can develop an understudy of sorts and keep Archer away from too many LOI, they can keep him motivated and hungry for the big test games (Pakistan this summer, then India and then the away Ashes).

 

[Amjid Javed]

We will see how decent england are after they get another beating at lords by pakistan in the summer

 

[Robert]

England are ranked #5 in tests by ICC.

Interesting, they must have slipped a bit recently.

 

[Robert]

That is not saying much.

But I agree with the overall sentiment, that the English test side could be on a path upwards. I disagree about the coach and he has a long, long way to go.

It’s saying that we appear to have two test class openers in one team for the first time since 2012. They are not Strauss and Cook but they will do.

 

[James]

I’m not sure yet.

Cape Town was an inspiring and extremely encouraging team effort; the win in the final Test against Australia in September was also pretty good; and the 2nd Test draw away to New Zealand also had its positives.

A lot of our newer players have at least one strong Test performance each under their belts now, but on the whole they still seem quite untested.

What I do take heart from is that this team has a very impressive work ethic and also a bit of resilience and character - they don’t just give up - they have often come from behind, following up bad results and tough experiences by bouncing back with their best cricket.